Brief History of Banjara Hills Parish

St. Alphonsus’ Church is a Catholic Church situated on a hill top of Banjara Hills. It is one of the famous land marks in Banjara Hills. This Church Land of 6,900 square yards was received as a gift deed of worth Rs. 2,47,000/- from Ms. Sturner Fernandez D/o Charles William Sturner in 1981. The Church land was registered in the name of the Archdiocese of Hyderabad represented by Fr. Thumma Rayappa. In the midst of this area there was a huge bungalow on a rock. Till 1989, the Redemptorist Priests used to conduct Retreats and Prayer Meetings. Fr. Thumma Arla used to celebrate the Holy Mass in the same building on Sundays. The stone quarry workers were the first Catholics who used to attend Holy Mass.

As the number of people increased the Chapel turned into a Church which was bifurcated from Khairatabad Parish. Fr. Thumma Arla is the first Parish Priest of Banjara Hills. He extended the Hall and made it as a Church and started Sunday Mass. Seeing the increased number of Parishioners, Fr. Michael Francis built the Church in 1996, which was then inaugurated and blessed by Archbishop Arulappa Samineni on 07th July, 1996. In the same ground Fr. B.L. Peter started a School in sheds in 1992 for the poor residents of Banjara Hills. The School flourished well, the number of Students increased. Then Fr. B. Albert took charge to build a School building. The building was raised by donation given by Mr. Tonny and Mr. Jan Gevers from Holland. The School was inaugurated and blessed by Archbishop Samineni Arulappa in 1996. In 2010, St. Alphonsus Belfry was built by Fr. Y.M. Joseph which was inaugurated by Justice Bana Sheshasayana Reddy and blessed by Fr. M. Dhanaraj on 27th March, 2010. Fr. Gali Samson as Parish Priest took initiative to destoy the old Villa and construct a new Presbytery. In 2015, the old Presbytery was demolished and the big rock adjacent to it was also removed. The new Presbytery was completed by January, 2016. The Presbytery was blessed and inaugurated by Archbishop Thumma Bala on 07th February, 2016.

The Parish which was bifurcated from Shrine of Our Lady of Health, Khairatabad is divided into two zones as Banjara Hills zone and Jubliee Hills zone. The Areas under Banjara Hills zone are: Zehra Nagar, Gouri Shanker colony, Noor Nagar, Nandi Nagar, Gurubrahma Nagar, Devarkonda Basti, Dood Khanna Basti, Ibrahim Nagar Singada Kunta, Singada Basti and Road Number 1 to 14, etc. The Areas under Jubliee Hills Zone are: Film Nagar, Madhapur, Hitech City, etc. The Church provides serene atmosphere for the Parishioners through many Spiritual services like Daily Mass, Sunday Mass, and Sunday School for children, Zonal Masses, etc. In 2018 Fr. Thumma Solomon installed the Lift. In 2019 Fr. Thumma Arla built a new Adoration Chapel and also renovated the Church with granite Flooring. He also built a new Lourdu Mata Grotto and also extended Parish House. St. Alphonsus High School run by the Archdiocese was established in 1992.